WOULDN’T ‘HURT’ A FLY: There is strong evidence insects feel pain, what this means for animal welfare laws
Pesticides kill trillions wild insects every year. The actual cause of death is often paralysis, asphyxiation, or dissolving the internal organs, sometimes over several days. Yet animal welfare debates and laws almost universally ignore insects.
BETH DALEY: At least a trillion insects are killed annually for food and animal feed. Routine slaughter methods include extreme heat and cold, often preceded by starvation. By comparison, “only” around 79 billion mammals and bird livestock are slaughtered every year.
Scholars have long recognised that the survival value of pain means many animals experience it, supposedly with the exception of insects. But we surveyed more than 300 scientific studies and found evidence that at least some insects feel pain. Other insects, meanwhile, haven’t been studied in enough detail yet.
We also carried out our own study into bumblebees’ response to potentially harmful stimuli. The way they reacted to the stimuli was similar to pain responses in humans and other animals we accept feel pain. Pesticides kill trillions more wild insects every year. The actual cause of death is often paralysis, asphyxiation, or dissolving the internal organs, sometimes over several days.
If insects feel pain, insect farming and pest control would cause mass suffering. Yet animal welfare debates and laws almost universally ignore insects. One reason is that, historically, insects were often viewed as too simple with too short a lifespan. But evidence that insects feel pain is accumulating…
The framework we used to evaluate evidence for pain in different insects was the one that recently led the UK government to recognise pain in two other major invertebrate groups, decapod crustaceans (including crabs, lobsters, and prawns) and cephalopods (including octopuses and squid), by including them in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. The framework has eight criteria, which assess whether an animal’s nervous system can support pain (such as brain-body communication), and whether its behaviour indicates pain (like motivational trade-offs).
Flies and cockroaches satisfy six of the criteria. According to the framework, this amounts to “strong evidence” for pain. Despite weaker evidence in other insects, many still show “substantial evidence” for pain. Bees, wasps, and ants fulfill four criteria, while butterflies, moths, crickets, and grasshoppers fulfill three…
Beetles, the largest group of insects, only satisfy two criteria. But, like other insects that received low scores, there are very few studies on beetles in this context. We found no evidence of any insect failing all the criteria.
Our findings matter because the evidence for pain in insects is roughly equivalent to evidence for pain in other animals which are already protected under UK law. Octopuses, for example, show very strong evidence for pain (seven criteria).
In response, the UK government included both octopuses and crabs in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, legally recognising their capacity for pain.
The UK government set a precedent: strong evidence of pain warrants legal protection. At least some insects meet this standard, so it is time to shield them. For starters, we recommend including insects under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, which would legally acknowledge their capacity to feel pain. But this law only requires the government to consider their welfare when drafting future legislation. If we want to regulate practices such as farming and scientific research, the government needs to extend existing laws. SOURCE…
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